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eHealth indicators enable GPs to compare their results against national averages

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In an Australian first, new eHealth indicators enable GPs to compare their results against national averages. The Improvement Foundation, Australia’s leading provider of data-driven quality improvement solutions for the primary healthcare sector has implemented a range of new clinical indicators in its free online quality improvement portal – qiConnect.

The new indicators viewed in a dashboard format are the first of their type to be collected nationally and were developed in consultation with National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), Australian Medicare Local Alliance (AMLA) and other leading healthcare practitioners.

Not only will these new indicators provide an overall view of key primary healthcare measurements but they will also enable healthcare professionals to track and measure against their own set benchmarks and national ones. Additionally, real time feedback graphs will give users the ability to identify areas where they can make improvements to their systems of practice, then track the results of their improvement efforts.

“We have always used powerful analytics and feedback mechanisms to help primary healthcare professionals harness the power of their clinical data to improve quality, safety and efficiency. These new indicators will provide an additional insight to identify where improvements can be made and the results of improvement initiatives,” said Colin Frick, CEO of the Improvement Foundation. “This will support GP’s in improving work practices, business efficiency and ultimately improving health outcomes for their patients.”

Current qiConnect members who are participating in the Improvement Foundation’s leading quality improvement program Australian Primary Care Collaboratives (APCC) are among the first users of the new dashboard and eHealth indicators.

APCC Clinical Chair and rural general practitioner, Doctor Alison Edwards has already experienced the benefits that the new indicators are providing.

“Having been involved in quality improvement work with the Improvement Foundation for some years, we know the value in benchmarking and monitoring our progress, said Doctor Alison Edwards, from the Broughton Clinic, SA. “The capacity to data-mine our computer system is great and has led to significant improvements in patient focussed care particularly for chronic diseases. The new dashboard and e-health indicators are another great tool for monitoring, motivating and improving our patient care.”

The dashboard is interoperable with many mainstream health practice clinical software systems using the Pen Computer Systems Clinical Audit Tool and is now available for usage.

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About the Measurements The following new Measurements are now available:

Total unique Shared Health Summaries uploaded or re-uploaded in the previous 12 months

Average number of Shared Health Summaries uploaded or re-uploaded in previous 12 months

Median age in months of all unique Shared Health Records uploaded

Average age in months of all unique Shared Health Records uploaded

Patients with verified Individual Health Identifiers

Event Summary Uploads

Detailed Specification and Further InformationDownload the detailed specification of the indicators in the new dashboard here.

Patient and Practice Privacy Patient privacy is protected because no patients’ personal details are submitted by the Clinical Audit Tool. The information extracted from the practice clinical system is all de-identified and aggregated data, so the data extracted is in numbers of patients only. Each practice’s dashboard is restricted by a username and password given to the specific practice.

About qiConnect qiConnect is an innovative data portal that helps healthcare organisations use and share data to manage the implementation of meaningful quality improvement programs and for health services to monitor and track improvements over time. Find out more.